Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

cbc.ca

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

281–290 of 324 posts

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#281

Post by canjobear »

bserge wrote: post #117
nisa wrote: post #73

Words of warning from a not so young (36) chronic procrastinator with a rather messed up life: Take it seriously. I'm not talking about reading HN in your 7th work hour when doing stupid Excel sheets. I'm talking about messing up years and years of your life. I believe it's a symptom of some deeper issues and it won't go away from alone. Lack of sleep, stress, work overload, information overload amplify the effects b…

I don't think it's about "avoiding difficult emotions" anymore. You'd think after years of procrastinating and as a result, getting even worse emotions, the brain would learn to not procrastinate in order to avoid unpleasant emotions. Imo, it's a brain malfunction/illness. Some spectrum of ADD, some people being affected more than others. Perhaps it was useful in the millions of years of evolution, but it's counterpr…

> You'd think after years of procrastinating and as a result, getting even worse emotions, the brain would learn to not procrastinate in order to avoid unpleasant emotions.

An alternative is that the reinforcement mechanism in the brain only responds to rewards on a short timescale. The reward from procrastination (not having to face xyz) comes immediately. The punishment from procrastination (your job/life is in shambles) comes months or years later. So you end up adopting a policy of procrastination.

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#282

Post by sockdrawer »

wpietri wrote: post #86
nisa wrote: post #73

Words of warning from a not so young (36) chronic procrastinator with a rather messed up life: Take it seriously. I'm not talking about reading HN in your 7th work hour when doing stupid Excel sheets. I'm talking about messing up years and years of your life. I believe it's a symptom of some deeper issues and it won't go away from alone. Lack of sleep, stress, work overload, information overload amplify the effects b…

Yeah, agreed. For me avoidance of tasks was just the visible problem; the root was avoidance of feelings . I don't really struggle with procrastination much any more, but it took all sorts of work that would have seemed apparently unrelated to me. E.g., a regular sleep schedule is really helpful, and that required an automated lighting system that helps me keep in sync with the sun. Regular cardio helps keep my basel…

> There's just today, and whether you're going to > make things better by one day's worth.

So true. The guest post on Ferriss's blog on this is quite good -- https://tim.blog/2009/07/28/the-big-question-are-you-better-...

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#283

Post by violetqed »

indiv0 wrote: post #279
wpietri wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, agreed. For me avoidance of tasks was just the visible problem; the root was avoidance of feelings . I don't really struggle with procrastination much any more, but it took all sorts of work that would have seemed apparently unrelated to me. E.g., a regular sleep schedule is really helpful, and that required an automated lighting system that helps me keep in sync with the sun. Regular cardio helps keep my basel…

Would you mind expanding on what this automated lighting system is?

You can buy a wake up lamp and aim it at your face while you sleep. They automatically turn on at a time you set, and the light intensifies slowly, like the sun. It’s a lot comfier than waking up to a loud noise.

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#285

Post by weitzj »

mtsr wrote: post #232
weitzj wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So your interpretation is kind of based on fear? Like, you want to to your work perfectly, because otherwise ... will happen? You procrastinate so that you have to finish the work on the last hour and then can tell yourself that you did not use your full potential, so that no one can judge you (as they did not see the full potential), because otherwise ... would happen?

I'm not sure if you mean to, but you sound a bit dismissive. It seems exactly like the kind of habits complex emotional creatures like humans develop. And it's not nearly as bad a habit as some other stuff, like addiction etc, which most people do understand. Even though the effects on ones life can be just as catastrophic.

I am sorry. I did not mean to sound dismissive. I was just observing.

I guess the strongest emotion is fear which “motivates” us. And one should verify whether some actions are based on fear and how it influences our lives. And maybe now this is only procrastination. But as the previous commenter said, one had to watch out for themselves.

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#286

Post by wpietri »

heavyset_go wrote: post #227
wpietri wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, agreed. For me avoidance of tasks was just the visible problem; the root was avoidance of feelings . I don't really struggle with procrastination much any more, but it took all sorts of work that would have seemed apparently unrelated to me. E.g., a regular sleep schedule is really helpful, and that required an automated lighting system that helps me keep in sync with the sun. Regular cardio helps keep my basel…

> the root was avoidance of feelings. To put this in perspective, one of the hallmarks of addiction is avoidance of feelings. It's a deeply psychological coping mechanism, and obviously a symptom of a larger problem.

Yes, exactly. One way I think about procrastination is addiction to the pain relief that comes from distraction.

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#287

Post by wpietri »

giovannibonetti wrote: post #269
wpietri wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, agreed. For me avoidance of tasks was just the visible problem; the root was avoidance of feelings . I don't really struggle with procrastination much any more, but it took all sorts of work that would have seemed apparently unrelated to me. E.g., a regular sleep schedule is really helpful, and that required an automated lighting system that helps me keep in sync with the sun. Regular cardio helps keep my basel…

> E.g., a regular sleep schedule is really helpful, and that required an automated lighting system that helps me keep in sync with the sun. Wouldn't letting the curtains open achieve the same thing?

At least where I live, that's not enough light for me, especially in the winter. But if I turn on regular lights when it's too dark, I may leave them on and then blow my sleep schedule.

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#288

Post by wpietri »

violetqed wrote: post #283
indiv0 wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you mind expanding on what this automated lighting system is?

You can buy a wake up lamp and aim it at your face while you sleep. They automatically turn on at a time you set, and the light intensifies slowly, like the sun. It’s a lot comfier than waking up to a loud noise.

I bought a Philips light-based alarm clock, which I liked, but it wasn't enough. So I built a whole-house system out of Hue bulbs and custom software:

https://github.com/wpietri/sunrise

To my surprise, the most valuable part for me was not sunrise but sunset. If the lights auto-dim in the evening, I go to bed on time, which means I wake up on time.

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#289

Post by Ma8ee »

I'm hesitant to share this, considering Aaron Swartz tragic end, but this [0] post helped me a lot to learn to tackle procrastination. The following is a key quote:

> Yes it’s painful, but the trick is to make that mental shift. To realize that the pain isn’t something awful to be postponed and avoided, but a signal that you’re getting stronger — something to savor and enjoy. It’s what makes you better.

[0] http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dalio

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#290

Post by slavik81 »

jimmydddd wrote: post #152
slavik81 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you procrastinate on mopping the floor or mowing the lawn, you're making a choice to live with dirtier floors or longer grass in exchange for more time to spend on other things. Some of that work actually goes away forever when you procrastinate. It's not like you mow the grass twice to make up for missing a week! Perhaps the difficult emotion that 'lazy' people are avoiding is admitting to themselves that they'…

The worst thing is when you put something off, like a project at work, and then it gets cancelled. That's the type of positive reinforcement that leads to even more procrastiantion. :-)

> The first week after getting an assignment is called 'The Wally Period.' Never do work during the Wally period because most tasks become unnecessary within seven days.

https://dilbert.com/strip/2002-02-27

Post reply on HN